ThinkingAfield.org

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that it has filed a motion for preliminary injunction in its Pool v. Besson lawsuit, asking the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to immediately block Louisiana’s ban on handgun carry permits for 18-to-20-year-old adults.

The lawsuit is brought by Louisiana residents Ella Pool, Christian McDuffie, and Charles Matthews, along with FPC. Each individual plaintiff is a peaceable adult between the ages of 18 and 20 who is legally eligible to possess firearms and would apply for a Louisiana concealed handgun permit, but is prevented from doing so because of the State’s age restriction.

Louisiana generally allows adults 18 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. But the State still prohibits 18-to-20-year-old adults from obtaining a Louisiana concealed handgun permit. That ban has significant real-world consequences, including restrictions on carrying within 1,000 feet of school grounds under federal law and the denial of legal protections Louisiana grants to permit holders.

But this lawsuit could have been avoided if Louisiana had simply fixed the constitutional problem when FPC first raised it.

In April 2025, while FPC was working with Louisiana officials to resolve constitutional problems raised in its Mate v. Wescott litigation to end the State’s non-resident carry permit ban, FPC’s counsel warned Louisiana Solicitor General Ben Aguiñaga that the State’s carry laws also violated the rights of 18-to-20-year-old adults, and provided Louisiana with proposed legislative language addressing both problems. The proposal would have allowed nonresidents to obtain Louisiana permits and lowered the minimum carry permit age from 21 to 18. Read more

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a reply brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Novotny v. Moore, SAF’s challenge to Maryland’s so-called “sensitive places” carry ban.

In May, SAF petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case challenging the constitutionality of Maryland’s ultra-restrictive “sensitive places” carry ban, passed after the landmark Bruen ruling forced the state to begin issuing concealed carry permits. Lawmakers sought to circumvent Bruen by passing a new law prohibiting carry in an overlapping patchwork of newly defined areas deemed “sensitive places.” Examples include mass transit facilities, establishments that serve alcohol, state parks, healthcare facilities, museums, stadiums and more.

“The Supreme Court has been clear that the Second Amendment protects a right for individuals to carry for self-defense as they go about their daily lives,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Put bluntly, when forced by the Supreme Court to issue carry permits, Maryland simply made those permits useless everywhere. Today’s reply makes clear that neither Maryland, nor the other jurisdictions that passed similar laws, should be allowed to so blatantly thumb their noses at the Supreme Court or the Constitution.” Read more

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed an amicus brief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Pratt v. Westbrook, a case challenging subjective carry permit denials.

SAF is joined in the brief by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The brief was filed by attorney Jason Guida, who served as local counsel pro bono.

The brief argues that Massachusetts laws related to carry permit issuance, which empower licensing authorities to deny a license to carry based on a subjective determination that an applicant is “unsuitable” or “may create a risk to public safety,” are unconstitutional under New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The statutes at issue allow precisely the kind of discretionary “appraisal of facts, exercise of judgment, and formation of an opinion” that Bruen‘s footnote 9 held is incompatible with a shall-issue regime. Read more